For Camila Cabello, social media can be a powerful microphone—but sometimes she needs to lower the volume.
"Yesterday, I had a day off and I was just like, 'I can't be on social media today,'" the Cinderella star told U.K. morning show Lorraine's Ross King on Aug. 3, "I just notice it just makes my brain go so fast and sometimes you just need to take a break."
As a public figure, the 24-year-old Fifth Harmony alum knows all too well the ways in which the internet can be a double-edged sword: One minute it's connecting you with fans, the next it's an echo chamber of harsh criticism.
She went on to talk about the pressure celebrities are under and how they can be at the mercy of public chatter: "A lot of the times I feel and I'm sure a lot of people feel, especially like female pop stars or pop singers, that the narrative can be kind of written for you." There's also the fact that social media holds stars accountable for better or worse, as was the case when Camila herself issued a public apology after offensive and racist Tumblr posts she'd shared as a teenager resurfaced.
"I think that social media can be a good thing," she told Ross, citing an empowering July 16 TikTok she made to shoot down body shamers. "For me, like posting about that video that I posted about my body and being like, 'I have cellulite and stretch marks and gain weight sometimes and that's normal'—having messages like that feels really liberating."
@camilacabello i luv my body
? original sound - Camila Cabello
For Camila, having a platform to speak up is a blessing. "The thing I'm thankful for social media is that it lets me kind of take control of my own narrative and actually share who I am," she told Ross, "as opposed to people telling other people who they think I am...That definitely makes me feel better because the other thing is just really frustrating."